WATCHING U / WATCH ME: A (New) Performance by Alok Vaid-Menon

“Capturing Hate,” a recent investigative report, analyzed eyewitness videos of anti-trans violence filmed as entertainment. The 329 videos they review have been viewed 89,233,760 times — they are so popular, in fact, that companies sponsor branded content on them to sell products.

We must ask: from the cinema to the street, do transfeminine people matter beyond our entertainment value?

In this solo-performance situated at the place where the URL and IRL converge Alok explores the sinister sides of visibility and our abusive relationship with the internet: How many facebook likes does it take to love yourself? How many followers does it take to feel less alone? What would it mean to understand the internet — and the violence it inflicts — as real? Why do we call cis people looking at trans people progress?

Travis Alabanza is a London based, Black, transfemme performance artist and writer. Their work combines live poetry, soundscapes, projection and theatrics to create work around their survival. Their 2015/16 show Stories of a Queer Brown Muddy Kid toured across the UK, selling out venues including the RVT & Housman’s Bookstore. As well as being one of the 2016/17 Artist in Residences at the Tate, in the last year their work has been featured in Artsy, Manon, Wildabout – as well as performing in venues both locally and internationally. Alabanza is keen to create and discuss ways in which art can be used with queer youth.
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If you are a Black and/or PoC queer/trans person and are unable to attend the performance due to cost, please email info@alokvmenon.com for more information about attending a sliding scale dress rehearsal & talkback with Alok & Travis.